Times Cryptic No 27354 – Saturday, 18 May 2019. Low hanging fruit, and high art?

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I started quickly, picking the proverbial low-hanging fruit. Things changed about halfway through, and the rest was a struggle. The obscurity and artistry of many clues had me doubting answers even when I saw them.

LOI was 19ac, where I was thinking “sexy” rather than “stolen”. Second last was 2dn, where I don’t know quite how to categorise the definition. Clues like 24ac had me hesitating to write the answer in when I saw it, until I had all the checkers. The wordplay in 18dn also rates a mention for being particularly obscure. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle!

Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, then wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’. Deletions are in [square brackets].

On edit: thanks to Phil Jordan for pointing out the floral Nina at 3dn+21dn, and 6dn+18dn. See the first comment!

Across
1 Morally corrupt equivalent of ten depressions? (8)
DECADENT: count these depressions with me: mono-dent, duo-dent, … deca-dent.

5 Result of laying hold firmly (6)
CLUTCH: double definition, to do with eggs or grasping.

10 Drunk again, ale’s numbing pain (9)
ANALGESIA: “drunk” (anagram) of (AGAIN ALES*).

11 Key discussion curtailed after six (5)
VITAL: VI (six), TAL[k] “curtailed”.

12 Seconds from parching, planters use borehole as well (4)
ALSO: an answer spelled out by the second letter of each word.

13 Field expertise reduced amount of green growth (9)
LEAFINESS: LEA (field), FINESS[e] (expertise, “reduced”).

15 Pause to rest, stopping the man endlessly busy working (10)
HESITATION: SIT (rest), “stopping” HE (the man), AT I[t] (busy, “endlessly”), ON (working). One of the clues I hesitated (yes, hesitated) to write in until I had the crossing letters to confirm that it fitted.

17 Something to drive about India without success (4)
VAIN: VAN around I for India. Definition as in, “the search was vain”.

19 Chews over new leaves — hot stuff? (4)
SWAG: SWAG=G[n]AWS (chews), “over” (i.e. backwards) and without N for new.

20 Money to protect king and knight in great urban moves? (5,5)
BREAK DANCE: BREAD (money) “protecting” K (king), and N (knight) in ACE.

22 Originally eaten in Mexico, not a thing with mostly cold filling? (9)
ENCHILADA: E (“originally” Eaten), followed by CHIL[l] (“mostly” cold) “filling” NADA (in Mexico, not a thing). And, the whole clue is the definition. Definitely, high art.

24 Told office to exclude British — for their neighbours’ funding? (4)
EURO: sounds like (“told”) BUREAU, with the sound of B for British excluded. As noted, I waited for both helpers before putting this in!

26 Literarily, it’s going to weave (5)
TWILL: ‘twill with an apostrophe being a literary contraction of “it will”.

27 Piece of meat where rest can be had in dish before main course (9)
ENTRECOTE: COT (where rest can be had) in ENTRÉE (dish before main course).

28 Deny women’s being released from old prison (6)
NEGATE: release the W from NEWGATE.

29 Being There, for which acting needs time given over to Sellers’ lead (8)
PRESENCE: PRETENCE (acting), with the T changed to an S.

Down
1 Daughters without refinement are attractive? (4)
DRAW: D (daughters), RAW (without refinement).

2 Nurse Carol naturally enters senior partner’s practice? (6-9)
CRADLE SNATCHING: CRADLE (nurse), NATCH (naturally) in SING (carol). A particularly cryptic definition, I thought, referring to an old man perhaps (the senior partner), taking up with a young woman.

3 Tidy black-clad punk getting around to canine (8)
DOGTOOTH: DO (tidy), GOTH around TO.

4 Twangy part for musician, as always (5)
NASAL: hidden answer (indicated by “part”).

6 See that vessel where hippies got it on (4-2)
LOVE-IN: LO (see that), VEIN (vessel).

7 Month Robert worked round old queen like a natural (2,3,6,4)
TO THE MANNER BORN: anagram (“worked”) of (MONTH ROBERT*), around ANNE. I remember the Penelope Keith series To the Manor Born so well, the actual answer momentarily looked like a mis-spelling.

8 List containing lines informed gang member (5,5)
HELL’S ANGEL: HEEL (list), “containing” LL (lines) and SANG (informed).

9 Answer Scottish island charge after mounting, baseless fear (8)
PARANOIA: A (answer), IONA (island), RAP (charge, as in “beat the rap”), all reversed (“mounting”).

14 Bust in Paris, our rising British author (10)
CHESTERTON: CHEST (bust), ERTON=NOTRE (in Paris, “our”; “rising”).

16 Cut yarn number in loom (8)
THREATEN: THREA[d] (“cut” yarn), TEN (number).

18 Unemployment I should lower, ending four points up (8)
IDLENESS: I’D (I should), LE-NESS = LE-SSEN (lower), with the last four letters reversed (“points up”).

21 Shade from screen infused with exotic oil (6)
VIOLET: VET (screen) “infused with” an anagram (of (“exotic”) (OIL*).

23 Famous dancer doesn’t have heart or foot moving (5)
ASTIR: the dancer was AST[a]IR[e], trimmed as instructed.

25 Unimpressive million in advance, once (4)
MERE: M (million), ERE (in advance).

23 comments on “Times Cryptic No 27354 – Saturday, 18 May 2019. Low hanging fruit, and high art?”

  1. ….there is a lovely NINA in here. 3/21D reads DOGTOOTH VIOLET, while the matching 6/18D reads LOVE-IN-IDLENESS. I think it’s the first time I’ve spotted one of these (admittedly post-solve).

    Also in post-solve territory were the parsings of PRESENCE and BREAK DANCE.

    This was a really enjoyable puzzle, which stretched just over my 20 minute target.

    FOI ANALGESIA
    LOI CRADLE-SNATCHING, which, along with SWAG and DOGTOOTH was a close runner-up for….
    COD PRESENCE – deserves an Oscar !
    TIME 21:25

  2. Liked this one a lot, although I didn’t manage to parse IDLENESS or CRADLE-SNATCHING. Liked ASTIR and PRESENCE, COD to SWAG.
  3. Got there in 42:54, but there was a lot of head scratching and “well it must be that but why?” Thanks setter and Bruce.
  4. …but with a nerror. I worked out it must be SWAG but still typed SNAG.
    Thanks Bruce for explaining the seven queries I had. I am sure we have had DO = TIDY before but I failed to see it. I needed help with CRADLE-SNATCHING and even now you’ve explained it, I’m still not sure I would have got it.
    As I remember it, Penelope Keith’s character ended up marrying Peter Bowles’ character in To The Manor Born.
    While on the subject of TV programmes, I’ve just finished watching the serialisation of “Catch-22” with George Clooney and (briefly) Hugh Laurie. I liked it a lot
    Thank you, Phil Jordan for the floral Nina!

  5. I really enjoyed this xword, so many great clues which means, of course, that I *got* them.
    I was left with 19a and 2d unfinished which, even with all the checkers, I couldn’t fathom (I tentatively filled in ‘searching’ on lower half of 2d which didn’t help at all).
    One or two were biffed but couldn’t parse so thank you Brnchn and thank you setter for the good fun.
  6. Excellent puzzle, though very hard in many places. May I point up that the letters for reversal at 18dn are points of the compass? There are five in all but only the ‘ending’ four require the treatment.
  7. I enjoyed this, which I had plenty of time to do, taking almost exactly the hour. LOI was SWAG. COD to CLUTCH, although it could have just as easily been ASTIR. I also liked CHESTERTON and BREAK DANCE, something, not being urban, I have never attempted. I think Thomas Beecham would have added it to incest and country dancing of things never to try. The two Ninas were very clever, not that I’d spotted them. If there are two, the second one could be called a Frederik. No, there’s no-one else here old enough to know what I’m talking about. LOVE IN IDLENESS is apparently a rarely-revived Rattigan play as well as a plant. Thank you B and setter.
    1. I remember them well. ‘Listen to the Ocean (echoes of a million sea shells)’, ‘Sipping Cider (through a stra-haw-haw)’, ‘Little Donkey’, ‘Mary’s Boy Child’, ‘Sucu Sucu’. I could go on…

      Edited at 2019-05-25 06:44 am (UTC)

      1. On the train back from a Canary Wharf brunch with offspring. “A little bitty tear let me down. Spoilt my act as a clown. I had it made up not to wear a frown. But a little bitty teat let me down.” From memory. Boltonwanderer
        1. Home now. I did mean ‘tear’ in last line!

          Edited at 2019-05-25 02:17 pm (UTC)

    3. Nina van Pallandt went on to a career in Hollywood, appearing in The Long Goodbye and American Gigolo, which were perhaps more memorable than the music.
  8. A great puzzle this. I was not quick -my notes say I had five left at 2pm, all in the SE. LOI was BREAK DANCE.I had convinced myself the second word was PENCE so that delayed 18d. FOI was ANALGESIA ,like Phil, but I did not see the Nina, indeed I have never heard of Dogtooth Violet or the other one.
    COD to CLUTCH and honourable mention to Enchilada which reminded me of the parody of Rupert Holmes’s Pina Colada song -there’s no escape once you’ve heard the lyrics of both. David
  9. This took me some time—an hour for the first three-quarters, then twelve minutes later in the day to finish off. And very enjoyable it was. I especially liked 1a DECADENT.

    I only had a couple of issues. Firstly, in 3d, I would sensitively suggest there’s more to being a goth than being a punk dressed in black. Over-sensitivity may be one of the differences!

    (Also, for the exact difference between Goths and goths, I refer you to the Guardian style guide 😀 )

    Secondly, in 16d, I was held up for a very long time by the fact that in my print-out “yarn” looks a great deal more like “yam”! I wondered why I couldn’t even figure out the surface reading, and it was only later in the day, with more sunlight streaming in and more awake eyes that I noticed my mis-reading. I hope they don’t use this typeface for the championship! (Thanks, Olivia, for letting me know I was not alone…)

    Edited at 2019-05-25 07:17 am (UTC)

    1. The confusion between “yam” and “yarn” is a constant annoyance.

      I for one wish the club would use a serif font. Times New Roman, anyone?

      1. Ironically, that seems to be the font the Guardian use for their PDF versions (and it is indeed a lot clearer.)
      2. There simply is no excuse for this IDLENESS!

        Wider kerning or Times New Roman – why the delay!?

        Are these not proof read? Can’t be! Editor!?

  10. Being There at 29ac was such a wonderful film. The accidental president bears comparison to today’s buffoon.

    FOI 1dn DRAW

    LOI 25dn MERE

    CODs to the 3 21, 6 18 Nina

    WOD DOG TOOTH VIOLET

  11. This seems to have been a 30 minute solve. I remember (I think) both the long ones taking up time, and that the relief of spotting the clever definition at 2d quite obliterated the need to sort out the cryptic. Of course, I didn’t spot the Nina, though I knew the second plant.
    Next time I’m in the Lake District, though, I’ll make a point of visiting Hellsangelmere. Sounds lovely
  12. 35:15 nice puzzle. I liked the lea finesse. I took ages to see Clutch.
  13. Very enjoyable puzzle, although it took me a full hour, and with the same LOI and SLOI as Bruce. CRADLE-SNATCHING was absolutely delightful once the penny dropped (and SWAG once I saw the reverse, which of course solved the problem of getting an S at the end of it).
  14. Thanks setter and bruce
    Took quite a number of sessions and approaching the second hour to get this one done. Hard work to get a lot of the answers and nearly as much work to fathom out the why – still didn’t properly parse IDLENESS (had ‘lower’=LESS around NE (four points up – well more like a quarter up – a quarter in an upper quadrant of the compass – convoluted !!). The actual parsing was excellent when seeing it here.
    Was happy to get the rest of it solved and parsed, although did not see the nina.
    The ANALGESIA was the first in with that tricky BREAK DANCE the last.

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